Goshen community rallies to support immigrants and to oppose abuses of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

     The Goshen Theater downtown was filled to capacity on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026   for a Goshen CIty Democratic Party meeting on immigration that was organized by the party’s Call to Action Task Force.  

     Nearly 700 people were spellbound by eight speakers who discussed the impact of the drastic changes in immigration enforcement, local efforts to help immigrants and what the community can do to help their friends and neighbors. While there have been no major enforcement actions in Indiana so far by U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE), defense attorneys and other advocates for immigrants are  preparing for the influx of ICE personnel.  

    Paul Stauffer, the Chair of the Goshen Democratic Party, opened the meeting by welcoming the crowd to the unprecedented meeting, the largest pro-immigrant local gathering in years. Stauffer also acknowledged the record-number of Democratic candidates in the audience running for local, state and federal offices in the May primary.  

The host and convener of the meeting was Richard Aguirre,  a member of the Call to Action Task Force as well as an Executive Board member of Mennonite Church USA and the co-leader of the Coalition Against the Elkhart County Immigration Detention Center. He said the community rallied in 2018 to defeat the detention center but this is a different time with even greater challenges. Still, he insisted, “This community has proven that we won’t give up.”

   Aguirre gave audience members a document summarizing the changes in immigrant enforcement over the past year that have resulted in huge numbers of immigrant deportations and the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minnesota. See document here: 2025-2026 U.S. Immigration overview.pdf 

     Indiana has four immigration detention facilities including the infamous “Speedway Slammer” in Bunker Hill, designed to hold 1,000 people.  

    Nationally, ICE facilities are holding more than 70,000 people – most awaiting deportation without due process by any court.  The Trump administration has established the goal of arresting and deporting one million undocumented immigrants per year.  

     Goshen College students Ashley Garcia Coto, Sheila Herrera and Sara Olayos spoke next, and discussed the fear of immigrants in Goshen.  They said they could be targets for ICE agents simply because of the color of their skin.  They said their  families have made great sacrifices to provide a college education that could be terminated if their parents were arrested and deported. 

     Another Goshen College student, Citali Hernandez, leads Voces Fuertes, a student organization dedicated to supporting, amplifying and uplifting immigrant voices on campus and beyond.  The group sponsors events and advocates for immigrant justice.  

     Rafael Barahona, co-owner of the design company LIGHTBOX and the 2025  chair of the Goshen Chamber of Commerce, discussed his parents’ journey from Chile to Canada. Although he and his family have established a comfortable life in Goshen, they have started developing a plan to evacuate from Goshen if they feel their safety is in jeopardy.  

    As a long-standing member of the Goshen community, Barahona said he is angry and frustrated that he could be forced to leave because of the targeting of people of color by federal immigration agents. He said, “There are plenty of documented examples that almost anyone can be a target, regardless of your age, race, status or ability to speak.”

     Jean Renel Momperousse, an Elkhart County resident and U.S citizen who grew up in Haiti, discussed his decision to move to Florida 25 years ago and then to  become a U.S. citizen 10 years ago. He also expressed frustration and anger that he continues to be asked for proof of his citizenship. He called on the audience to vote for candidates who will support immigrants.

Legal points of view

     Felipe Merino, a Goshen immigration and criminal defense attorney, discussed the increasing immigration enforcement in Elkhart County. 

    Merino said many of the people detained on suspicion of being undocumented immigrants are deprived of the opportunity for court hearings, much less legal representation. An increasing number are rapidly transported out of state.

     Because of rising immigration enforcement, Merino said he now carries his U.S. passport with him whenever he leaves his home as proof of his citizenship.  Although he is a U.S. citizen who earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his law degree from the University of Notre Dame, Merino said he must carry his passport to protect himself and his family.

    Merino said hard-working, tax-paying immigrants are the backbone of our community and many of them have lived here for many years.  He also noted that greed is partly behind the surge of arrests with counties, states and private companies being paid huge amounts of money to incarcerate immigrants.

     Merino noted that the State of Indiana just announced it was paid nearly $2 million in taxpayer funds for housing immigrants for one month at a state detention facility. That, he said, was an incentive to imprison more immigrants.

     Lisa Koop, the National Director of Legal Services of the National Immigrant Justice Center in Goshen, spoke in great detail about the lack of due process for immigrants and the staggering number of  cases pending in federal courts.  

     She criticized enforcement, such as ICE agents arresting people without identifying themselves and people jailed for weeks or months without being properly charged. She also said federal immigration courts are biased in favor of the federal government. She said last year there were 70 major precedent-setting rulings in federal immigration courts and all went against immigrants. 

   Koop said the current legal system appears designed to facilitate deportations, particularly of black and brown immigrants. She said, “It is bleak and it is hard, and we are seeing abdication by state and national leaders, including the federal appellate courts, who are supposed to be the checks and balances.”

  It’s not about Black or White, it’s about humanity

    On the brighter side, if ICE launches mass raids in Elkhart County, some resources are available to respond, the panelists said.

    Jane Ross Richer, Immigrant Resource Coordinator for the Center for Healing and Hope, is a strong advocate for immigrants.  She stated that her office functions  similarly to a hospital emergency room, serving as a safety net for those in need by providing funds for legal assistance, rent, utilities and food.  

   Ross Richer also promoted a program called “Circles of Care,” which is designed to help  immigrants adjust and stay in the community.  It involves friends and neighbors forming a group that will befriend and help meet the financial and other support needs of an immigrant family. Participants provide the funding.

    In a powerful conclusion, she said,  “The reason we do this work is because we believe Jesus is calling us to welcome the stranger, care for the sick and feed the hungry … Friends here tonight, we cannot rely on anyone else to create the kind of community we want to live in. We have to create it ourselves.”

     After the presentations, there was a question-answer session facilitated by Marcia Yost and Phil Lederach, two members of the Call to Action Task Force.  Audience members submitted questions on a broad range of issues and the speakers took turns providing answers.  

Your Call to Action

     When he opened the program, Richard Aguirre encouraged audience members to follow the advice of President Teddy Roosevelt who more than 100 years ago urged people to, “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, from where you are.” 

   Aguirre closed the program by acknowledging the passing earlier on Feb. 17 of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and Presidential candidate who famously said, “At the end of the day, we must go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division.”

    Aguirre concluded by saying that Rev. Jackson’s dream of uniting people in a common cause has come true through the widespread support for immigrants.

    Aguirre said, “The Rainbow Coalition Jesse Jackson envisioned has been realized in the widespread opposition to the largest crackdown on immigrants in our nation’s history. Young and old, people of all ethnicities and races, of all occupations and political persuasions have come together to stand with our immigrant brothers and sisters. Minnesota is proof of that. So, let’s try to live that call to action in the coming days, months and years. Let’s move forward with hope and not backward by fear and division.” 

Written: Ron Altenhof

Edited: Richard Aguirre